Public men harnessed for horses – Newspaper Kommersant No. 22 (7467) dated 02/07/2023
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The Public Chamber (OP) of the Russian Federation asks the Prosecutor General’s Office to verify the legality of the reconstruction of the Central Moscow Hippodrome (CMI). The site was closed in 2022 for a three-year repair of the tracks, restoration of the historical building and the construction of a VIP stand. Public activists fear “unreasonable costs” for the reconstruction, which, in their opinion, may be unsafe for horses and people, since it is carried out without public expertise. The administration of the hippodrome assures that the historical appearance of the main building of the CMI as an architectural monument will be preserved, and they are perplexed about the claims regarding the inflated cost of the project against the background of its not yet approved estimate.
The appeal of the RF OP to the Prosecutor General’s Office with a request to check the legality of “the procedures for developing, coordinating, approving the concept for the reconstruction of the complex” and the general plan for the reconstruction of the CMI is stated in the Chamber’s Telegram channel. The appeal was preceded by hearings, during which the participants stated that the solutions applied in the master plan for the reconstruction would lead to “huge unreasonable expenses”, change the historical appearance of the CMI, and the result of the process would be buildings “unsafe for animals and people,” add to the RF OP. The chamber refers to unnamed experts who indicated that the concept of the reconstruction of the CMI was adopted without holding public hearings on the project. “We ask you to evaluate the legality and feasibility of applying architectural and engineering solutions and, if necessary, cancel the decision on the reconstruction plan,” the chamber added.
The Central Moscow Hippodrome opened in 1834. The main building (“Running Pavilion”) was built in 1889-1894 according to the design of architects Ivan Baryutin and Sergey Kulagin and rebuilt in the 1950s in the style of Stalinist and Palladian architecture. In 2004, the building was recognized by the Moscow government as a regional cultural heritage site. The stables of the CMI consist of 1.2 thousand stalls: depending on the season, 850-1000 horses are quartered here, including 550 trotters. Trotter races were held throughout the year.
Preparations for the reconstruction of the CMI have been underway since August 2022. The repair initiative comes from the structures of the Moscow City Hall and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation (JSC Rosippodromy, which manages a network of 16 hippodromes in the Russian Federation, is subordinate to it). In 2021, the idea of reconstruction was approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin. For the project, the city authorities created LLC TsMI, to which Moscow sends funds for reconstruction, and JSC Rosippodromy contributes the property of the hippodrome. The cost of the work has not been approved, but, according to some estimates, it may exceed 12 billion rubles.
The first two projects for the reconstruction of the CMI were developed back in 2014. The first provided for the construction of a 40-storey complex on 1 hectare in the southwestern part of the CMI, the second – the removal of stables outside the city (on 100 hectares of land outside the Moscow Ring Road) and the development of 6 hectares of the hippodrome with housing. But against the “destruction of the hippodrome” 19 thousand signatures were collected; projects were not implemented. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin in 2017 also advocated the preservation of the hippodrome “in its original form.”
According to the approved schedule, by the end of February 2023, all horses must leave the CMI for the duration of the three-year reconstruction. The state company Rosippodromy reported that they would restore the main building, rebuild the paths (with the equipment of three tunnels under them), build new stables (for 1.1 thousand stalls), equip parking and erect a VIP-tribune for 400 people “with the possibility of receiving protected persons. In August 2022, the tenants of the CMI stables complained that a long-term eviction could lead to a reduction in the number of trotters and even “destruction of the industry”, suggesting that repairs be carried out in parts (see “Kommersant” dated August 23, 2022). The administration of the hippodrome, in turn, assured that the races would be stopped for a year and a half, and for this period the tenants were ready to accept hippodromes in other cities.
Director General of Rosippodromy JSC Dmitry Zaitsev assured Kommersant that the historical appearance of the main building of the Central Medical Institute will be preserved. “This is an architectural monument, no one will allow it to be restored with a change in its historical appearance,” Mr. Zaitsev said, adding that the objects of the horse yard and the paths of the hippodrome are “extremely worn out”, some of the objects are in disrepair. The manager also rejected the claims of the authors of the appeal to the prosecutor’s office that the reconstruction concept was developed without the participation of the professional community. Mr. Zaytsev said proposals from horse owners, industry associations and other experts are still under discussion, assuring that “community-satisfied changes” will be made to the terms of reference for the renovation project. The general director of Rosippodroms was perplexed by the claims of public figures regarding the costs, since, according to him, the project estimate has not yet been approved.
In the capital’s construction department, they promptly failed to comment on the claims of the RF OP.
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